Alexander Kuoppala
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Alexander Kuoppala (born April 11, 1974) was the rhythm guitarist from the band Children of Bodom from 1995 to 2003.
[edit] Biography
Born in the town of Espoo, Finland, Alexander began playing guitar at the age of 10. He was introduced to the instrument by his mother, who taught him the basics. Initially, his style was focused on blues and jazz, even though later in his life this would change dramatically. His experience with heavy metal music started when he began listening to bands such as W.A.S.P., Judas Priest, Manowar and Ozzy Osbourne.
Being a trumpet player in a local big band, he got to know Jaska Raatikainen, a French horn player who was also the drummer for a band called, at the time, IneartheD. Since the band was in need of a rhythm guitarist and both musicians were getting along well, Alexander was invited to join them in 1995.
On the same year, he joined a band assembled by some friends of his known as the Keytoes, which plays disco/soul music live in events. It wasn't complicated for him to keep a steady schedule with IneartheD and Keytoes for the first few years of the band. However, in 1998, one year after Children of Bodom's debut Something Wild, he quit the Keytoes in order to tour with Children of Bodom. Nevertheless, he re-joined them in 2000 as a guitarist. In numerous interviews, Alexander has stated that every musician should play as many styles as possible, without focusing too much on a single one.
When Children of Bodom was trying to get a deal from Something Wild, Alexander was the one who gave a copy of the album to Sami Tenetz (from Thy Serpent), who forwarded it to the owner of Spinefarm Records. At the time, both musicians worked for a company called Inex Partners. Alexander was a truck driver.
In his time in Children of Bodom, Alexander's personality was that of a big brother, being five years older than most of the other members (and six years older than Henkka Seppälä). When talking about him, Alexi Laiho refers to him as a fun, carefree guy who went completely crazy on stage and gave a lot of energy on their performances. Alexander was the person that replied to most of Children of Bodom's fan mail in the band's early years.
In 2003 the band left Finland to play the Hate Crew Deathroll world tour, and things went as normal until around April, when Alexander started spending more time by himself and talking to his girlfriend on his cellphone. So in July of that year, he approached Alexi and told him that he was going to quit the band. The separation happened in a non-hostile manner, and Alexander's reasons were that the lifestyle of a band was not working for him anymore, and he also wanted to spend more time with his girlfriend and build a family life.
In the Tuska Open Air event Alexander played for the last time with the band, and Alexi made quick arrangements so that his bandmate from Sinergy, Roope Latvala, could finish the tour with them.
After quitting Children of Bodom, Alexander started teaching music at a Finnish music school Tauko. He had a daughter in the year of 2004. In 2006, Alexander jumped back to the music scene as the guitarist for the solo band of Finnish hard rock musician Timo Rautiainen. Alexander will play on Timo's first solo album, Sarvivuori and perform on the band's live gigs.
